I decided to pay another visit to the Epping-Ongar Railway today and
noted with surprise that services have been extended to Coopersale
Bridge, approx. 1/2 mile from the boundary with Metronet BCV. The
railway has also secured a second heritage bus, RM1641, for linking
services between North Weald and Epping LU.

When the DMU reversed just before the bridge I spoke to the guard about
this extension of services, and he commented that the railway's long
term plan was to open a halt in the area. Services to Epping are still
vapourware, though; one of the senior volunteers I spoke to near the
end of the day said that TfL (who, along with the LT Museum, are
actually friendly with the group) wanted half a million pounds to
modify the trackwork east of Epping to provide enough space for the EOR
to build a station. Considering the existing financial constraints of
both the volunteers and the EORL, I suppose this is still in the
future.

Loadings also appear to be increasing; the train had at least 20-30
people on it right up to the last journey, and Ongar carpark was
completely full. The only surprise was that an all-day Rover was now
5GBP instead of 4GBP.